I don't think we should end them entirely, but could be more selective about who receives and what they receive. Senior citizens often need social security and a few food stamps might round out their diet. The disabled may need some assistance. But giving hundreds of thousands in assistance to healthy young men makes no sense to me.

Not just healthy young men, but healthy young women too. There are those who need assistance, but these days if you know the right people or if you can cry disabled loud enough or if your family has lived on it for years, it is easy to get.

There is no shame in working for a living, and we support those who cannot (I am fine with that) and those who won't work (NOT fine with that).

What needs to be ended is the abuses of the system, not all of the programs completely. There are people that legitimately need help to get on their feet, meet basic necessities, etc. I don't have an issue with that sort of help assuming the idea is to move them toward self-sufficiency and not toward a permanent status of having their life subsidized by the government. I could be wrong, but I think that is what most people would prefer and why a lot of people want the social programs ended--because of all the abuses that are taking place and seem to be allowed to continue with no oversight or consequence.

Senior citizens paid into Social Security in the form of FICA taxes that come out of their/our paychecks. That money is theirs/ours to begin with, meaning those of us who have paid in to the system. Calling Social Security an "entitlement," as I see lately just makes me want to say, "Oh yeah? Well, then, give me ALL my FICA taxes back NOW for the whole 35 years I've been working."
That said, my mom lives off her Social Security check and cannot get badly needed food stamps. She gets by with a little help from her friends (and family).
Yes, the truly disabled need our help.
As far as giving assistance to healthy young people and foreign governments that hate us? Hey, this is where we should start cutting the deficit!

Amen, and I agree! We have served our country in two branches of the military, and we have worked since the age of 11 doing different jobs and got our s.s. card at the age of 14 and that was 50 years ago and I have !!asked anyone to give me what these Russian people have gotten claiming to be refugees or whatever, but I was well trained in the U.S. military and we need to send all these fricking heathens back to their commie islamofascist countries! They are Chechen but still russkies. May God Almighty help save us from these satan worshippers!!

"Repeal that [welfare] law, and you will soon see a change in
their manners. ... Six days shalt thou labor, though one of
the old commandments long treated as out of date, will again be
looked upon as a respectable precept; industry will increase,
and with it plenty among the lower people; their circumstances
will mend, and more will be done for their happiness by inuring
them to provide for themselves, than could be done by dividing
all your estates among them."
Benjamin Franklin.

And having looked to government for bread, on the very first scarcity they will turn and bite the hand that fed them. To avoid that evil, government will redouble the causes of it; and then it will become inveterate and incurable.

if all the all the people receiving welfare and all the new tenants of the new "flophouse" showed up today at your plant or your shop; how many would you even take the time to interview.......probably not a single one would be hired......and that is the problem......and even if one of them could get a job, it wouldn't have healthcare or enough money to get healthcare

Lonnie, you are correct. And some of the problem may be that these folks don't know how to clean up their act enough to be trusted with a job. They can learn it though. No sense in just being a victim of the system all one's life.

As to healthcare, they cannot be turned down now, right? There is always the emergency room, and most folks don't stay home with headache, sore muscles, colds, etc.

If they were qualified and there were open positions, then I am sure they would have just as much chance as anyone else of getting a job. Problem is, most of them made life choices along to way that preclude them from being able to get a job of substance. You also assume that those that can work and aren't trying to find work actually want to work. If someone really wants to work, they will find a job even if it isn't the dream job.

How about we start with having those that can work look for a job, get one, keep it and then we work out everything else? Or is your excuse that since it doesn't pay as much as you think it should they should continue to live on other people's money? Does that seem right to you?

There are many issues with the system. But once one gets on the system they have to make way less or nothing for help and then off with no half which discourages from even taking a part time job that could build up to a well paid stable job that keeps them off. So it is all or nothing resulting in a waist of funding and no path for a slow transition. We have halfway houses and transitions in many things but not with this.
Some need and some do not need as much and some need none at all.
But generalizing is not the answer either!
Judge not least you be judged!

Someone here said, "judge not, lest you be judged" and that is right. But rather than worry about the system, I would like to see some real changes made.

One has to be tested for drug abuse to get even a job at Walmart, K-Mart, or other menial work. Nothing wrong with testing applicants for welfare too.

One needs to be healthy to work. Then let's give folks a chance for assistance, if they bring medical information showing they need it. There are plenty of folks with diagnoses that would require it... the others better get busy finding jobs.

I have personally seen and helped a few people get off the system and I know it is hard. It is not designed to help them in the transition, just to keep them minimally fed and housed. That needs to change too. How slow the transition depends on the person, but it needs monitoring and there should be acceptable and non acceptable reasons for job losses, etc.

There is plenty more. My mom was wheelchair bound and lived off her social security with me (no nursing home for my mom unless there was no other choice). She could not even qualify for any help. Thank goodness her medical care was handled from her job, which was lost from her having a major stroke. I can remember in times past when she asked for help in tough times, and she could not qualify. I can remember that she never could qualify for a scooter either... they said she could get around just fine. (She was wheelchair bound and I bought the danged scooter for her so she could enjoy the outdoors too.)

I have no sympathy for all the whining over why healthy folks think we owe them a living, no matter what the reason. With some gumption, most folks can find their way to a better life.

Good choices, what is accurate, and what is best are often not related at all to popular vote, especially by a polarized sample.

Most of the social services budget relates to social security and Medicaid, not welfare.

There should be reform in medical, welfare, and unemployment systems to force people to get jobs and to stop insurance companies and hospitals from gouging people, but that notion we can just shut off any public assistance is as idiotic as it can possibly get.

Our country is driven by money, and has almost become a complete oligarchy. Corporations and special interest groups increasingly run things through lobbyists, and that is really why we are in a mess. Even the Tea Party is funded and guided by the Koch brothers. It isn't grass roots at all. Research it.

Just gotta clear up one little item in your post. Not all tea party groups are funded and guided by the Koch Brothers, or even other bigger tea party groups.

Some of us are out there to inform and get information out to folks who attend. As a spokesperson for the Middle GA Tea Party that meets in Barnesville, I can assure you that we are grassroots! Research it if you like. I am available any time to answer your questions. I am not speaking for any other group :)

Tom........wake up to reality, we picked up a bag on our road with about 20 lotto tickets in it, it also had some food, and candy wrappers as well as a drink bottle in it. The receipt listed all the items in the bag minus the 20 lotto ticket's.
At that bottom of the receipt it showed it was paid for with an EBT card. Thank you.
All I can say is wow.

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